Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

TURKISH CLAUSE LINKAGE^549

5.3 -mEklE

The last example I will discuss of cosubordinate nexus at the clause level is
the -mEklE construction. First note that the two clauses in such a construc­
tion do not necessarily share an argument, although it seems to be prefer­
red in modern Turkish (see Lewis 1967:187):

(36) Kitab-ι oku-makla her§ey-i bil-eceg-in-i

book-Ac read-mEklE everything-Acc know-FUT-poss-ACC

zanned-iyor-du.

think-PROG-PT

"He thought he would know everything by reading the book."

Note that the first clause receives its tense reading from the main clause,

suggesting that it lacks its own clausal operators. On the other hand, as pre­

dicted for clausal juncture, it may independently specify the core operator,

modality:

(37) Türkce -abil-mekle riş-yi kazan-di-m

Turkish speak-ABiL-mEklE contest-Ac win-PT-lsG

"By being able to speak Turkish, I won a contest."

6. Core coordination

Sentences involving core coordination are those instances in which two (or

more) cores with their arguments and independent modality operator are

joined to form a single core. Hence, they share all clausal arguments and

operators. Also, as is characteristic of all core junctures, the two cores will

share a core argument (F&VV 1984:193).

6.1 No complementizer

An example in Turkish is the construction in which the subject and tense is

shared by both clauses, though they are independently specified for other

core arguments, for aspect, and for modality:

(38) Odam-da uzan-iş gazete ok-uyor-du-m.

room-Loc stretch-mIş paper read-PROG-PT-lsG

"I was lying in my room reading the paper."